Even in a country where a culture of overwork permeates a wide range of businesses, the anime industry is notorious for the grueling hours that workers put in. Animators in their early 20s earn less than 2 million yen ($12,948) a year, according to industry data, compared with over 3 million yen for a person of a similar age living in Tokyo. That’s less than half of what US entry-level animators earn, websites like Glassdoor show. Creative workers also complain of late and uncertain payments.

Some, though, sense change is afoot. A working group for the United Nations Human Rights Council last year called out Japan’s anime industry for its poor treatment of workers, along with cases of sexual violence and harassment in the country’s entertainment business. In a May report, the group referred to “excessively long working hours” and low pay, as well as a disregard for creative workers’ intellectual property rights.

Talk about frustrating to infuriating. They need to unionize like hell, and if the government is genuinely looking at addressing this, this would be a good time to do so. A government aiming to save face may be more amenable to unionization efforts than at other times.

Honestly pleasantly surprised to see encouraging worker activism towards the end of the article as well.